Disney Plus-Or-Minus Bonus: Mickey's Christmas Carol
As a rule, this column has not concerned itself over much with the hundreds of short films produced by Walt Disney Studios over the years, except for when they’ve turned up in package films like The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh. But I’m making an exception for Mickey’s Christmas Carol. For one thing, Mickey Mouse’s return to the big screen was a legitimately big deal, earning press coverage and being reviewed alongside all the big holiday features in 1983. And besides, it’s Christmas. If not now, when?
Short films in general had all but disappeared from theatres by the end of the 1960s. Disney was one of the last holdouts, attaching featurettes to both new releases and theatrically re-released classics, a practice they and Pixar still occasionally indulge in to this day. But the days of short cartoons regularly preceding a feature presentation were long gone. The studio had not produced an original Mickey Mouse cartoon since The Simple Things all the way back in 1953.
Not that Mickey ever went away entirely. The studio had kept their most famous character busy on television on The Mickey Mouse Club, greeting guests at their theme parks and even on vinyl, such as the instantly dated relic Mickey Mouse Disco. But he had been largely absent from movie theaters during that time. Fantasia had been re-released theatrically but the new marketing emphasized psychedelic imagery and the demon Chernabog over Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice. His only other feature appearance, the 1947 package film Fun And Fancy Free, had been chopped up and sold for parts on TV.
The roots of Mickey’s theatrical comeback can be traced back to one of those original LP releases (fortunately not Mickey Mouse Disco). In 1974, Disneyland Records released An Adaptation Of Dickens’ Christmas Carol, Performed By The Walt Disney Players (catchy title, huh?). The album was conceived and written by actor Alan Young and Alan Dinehart. Young had become a popular TV star in the 50s, first on The Alan Young Show, which Dinehart had produced, and later as the foil to the talking horse, Mister Ed. Young also voiced Scrooge McDuck for the first time on the record.
If your only exposure to Disney characters had been through film and TV, you might not have been all that familiar with Scrooge McDuck in 1974. Donald’s uncle was created by Carl Barks in 1947 for a different Christmas story, Christmas On Bear Mountain, in the comic book Four Color Comics. Over the years, Scrooge grew from a one-off character to one of the most prominent members of Donald’s extended family, eventually becoming the primary focus of many stories. But for years, his appearances were limited to the printed page.
Scrooge didn’t have a voice until the 1960 album Donald Duck And His Friends, where Dallas McKennon first gave him his distinctive Scottish burr. In 1967, Scrooge made his animated debut in the short film Scrooge McDuck And Money, played by Bill Thompson (the voice of Droopy, the White Rabbit in Alice In Wonderland, and many, many others). Alan Young was the third actor to take on the role but he would have the longest association with it. He continued to voice Scrooge on television, notably on the series DuckTales, video games and movies up to his death in 2016.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol doesn’t deviate much from the script laid out by Young and Dinehart but there are a few significant changes and substitutions. On the album, the two fundraisers collecting alms for the poor are played by Honest John and Gideon from Pinocchio. The film replaces them with Ratty and Mole from The Wind In The Willows segment of The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad. Honestly, it seems like it would have been more fun to have two notorious con artists play the parts.
As the Ghost of Christmas Past, the album casts Merlin from The Sword In The Stone. That’s an interesting choice but the film’s use of Jiminy Cricket in the role makes a lot more sense. Cliff Edwards, Jiminy’s original voice actor, died in 1971. Eddie Carroll took over the role in Mickey’s Christmas Carol and continued with the character until he passed away in 2010.
Perhaps the most disappointing switch is the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. Mickey’s archnemesis Peg-Leg Pete (or Black Pete or just plain Pete, depending on your preference), one of Disney’s oldest characters, appears as the Ghost in Mickey’s Christmas Carol. But on the record, it’s the Evil Queen from Snow White in her Witch’s form. Pete’s a fine, if somewhat obvious, choice for the character. But it’s rare to see the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come personified as a female in any telling of the story. This could have been a unique spin, both narratively and visually.
Apart from the recasting, there’s one other big difference between the two versions of the story. Befitting an audio format, the original album is a straight-up musical with six original songs. The animated version scraps all of them in favor of one new tune, “Oh, What A Merry Christmas Day”, written by Irwin Kostal and Fredrick Searles. If I had to guess, my assumption would be that the old songs were primarily cut for the sake of time, although it could also be that Disney wanted the focus on Kostal’s lovely new song.
The primary force behind turning the record into a film was producer/director Burny Mattinson. Burny was a Disney lifer, having joined the studio in the mailroom in 1953 when he was just 18. He quickly worked his way up through the ranks of the animation department, from an in-betweener on Lady And The Tramp to a character animator on Robin Hood to a storyboard artist on The Rescuers. Mattinson stayed with Disney right up to 2023’s Strange World and Wish. In 2008, he was officially inducted as a Disney Legend. Burny appeared in the studio’s charming 100th Anniversary short, Once Upon A Studio, prior to his death earlier this year at the age of 87.
For some time, Mattinson’s dream project was an animated feature starring the studio’s “Fab Five”: Mickey, Donald Duck, Goofy, Minnie Mouse and Pluto. One day, after a particularly contentious production meeting on The Black Cauldron (we’ll dive into that whole can of worms soon enough), Mattinson’s wife encouraged him to stop wasting his talents on work that frustrated him and pursue his real passion.
He was familiar with the Christmas Carol record and pitched the idea to Disney President Ron Miller. Miller liked it but was concerned that, as a holiday release, it wouldn’t offer enough return on investment to justify producing as a feature film. After considering it as both a feature and a TV special, Miller finally gave Mattinson the go-ahead to produce it as an extended short. The shorter running time meant that some of Mattinson’s ideas, including a subplot involving Pluto, had to be axed.
Mattinson was determined to honor the spirit of the characters. For Donald, this meant there could be no other actor for the voice besides Clarence Nash. “Ducky” Nash first voiced the character back in 1934 and had been inextricably connected to Donald ever since. After Mickey’s Christmas Carol, Nash would have one last victory lap as the character for the 1984 special Donald Duck’s 50th Birthday. Clarence Nash died at the age of 80 in 1985 and was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 1993.
Apart from Nash, most of the voice actors were, like Alan Young, relatively new to the job but would go on to play the roles for years. Wayne Allwine took over as the voice of Mickey Mouse in 1977 while he was still working his day job as sound effects editor on movies like The Black Hole, succeeding Jimmy MacDonald and Walt himself. Allwine continued to voice the mouse until his death in 2009 at the age of 62. His wife, Russi Taylor, was to be the voice of Minnie Mouse. But all of Minnie’s dialogue ended up on the cutting room floor, so Taylor wouldn’t officially assume the role until later.
Goofy, who appears in the film as Jacob Marley, was voiced by Hal Smith. Smith had taken over from Pinto Colvig after his death in 1967. This would be Smith’s last outing as the Goof, although he would continue to voice a number of other characters, including Owl and Winnie the Pooh, up to his death in 1994 at 77. After a couple other actors took a stab at it, Bill Farmer became the official voice of Goofy in 1987 and continues to do a phenomenal job with the character to this day.
Will Ryan provided the voice of Willie the Giant (last seen in Fun And Fancy Free and now the Ghost of Christmas Present), as well as Pete. Ryan began his career as a musician, contributing to several Disneyland Records releases, before moving into voice acting with Mickey’s Christmas Carol. He went on to perform as Rabbit and Tigger on the Disney Channel series Welcome To Pooh Corner and voice characters in The Land Before Time, The Little Mermaid and many other projects. He died in 2021 at the age of 72.
In addition to the main characters, Mattinson filled the screen with cameos by famous Disney characters. Everyone from the Three Little Pigs and Chip and Dale to Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow turns up at some point, as do characters from Robin Hood and The Aristocats. Horace and Clarabelle were particularly deep cuts. The last time either of them had been on screen, the US had just entered World War II. Mattinson clearly had a deep and reverent knowledge of Disney history.
Using Dickens’ bulletproof 1843 story as a blueprint, Mattinson simply allowed the characters to be themselves. Given his name, it was inevitable that Scrooge McDuck would headline an adaptation of A Christmas Carol sooner or later and Mickey Mouse is a natural as Bob Cratchit. Donald Duck mostly keeps his legendary anger management issues in check but his boisterous personality lends itself well to Fred’s boundless Christmas spirit.
Mattinson’s team of animators took the assignment seriously, giving the film a warm, lush look far beyond what would typically be found in a short, much less a TV special. The animation occasionally pays homage to the great Carl Barks, a fitting tribute to Uncle Scrooge’s creator. The Disney animation department had experienced a lot of generational conflict over the past decade on projects like The Fox And The Hound. It’s kind of heartwarming to see a movie like Mickey’s Christmas Carol, produced mostly by relatively younger members of the team, that treats the classic characters with such care and respect.
Disney released Mickey’s Christmas Carol with no small amount of fanfare on December 16, 1983, attached to a re-release of The Rescuers. It preceded different movies in other territories. In the UK, for example, it came out slightly earlier and accompanied The Jungle Book. Most critics embraced the movie, though there were a few that cried humbug. Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs down, declaring it a disappointment that played it too safe with its source material.
Although I think two thumbs down is too harsh a judgment, that is a fair criticism. There have been so many versions of A Christmas Carol over the years that simply following the story beat for beat really is the bare minimum. Almost a decade later, the Muppets would have a lot more fun with the story in their Disney debut. But even if Mickey and the gang missed a few opportunities, they still tell the story with heart, good humor and no wasted energy. If anything, the short breezes through Dickens’ story too quickly, jumping from ghost to ghost with barely a moment’s rest.
The 1983 reissue of The Rescuers did reasonably well at the box office, adding about $21 million to Disney’s coffers. How much of that was due to Mickey’s Christmas Carol is impossible to say. The studio sent The Rescuers back into theatres in March of 1989 and it pulled in about the same amount. Still, Micky and the Rescuers were competing against movies like Sudden Impact, Scarface and Uncommon Valor back in ’83. The only non-R-rated movies in the top ten were Terms Of Endearment, the disastrous John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John reunion Two Of A Kind and Yentl. It’s reasonable to assume that Mickey’s Christmas Carol drew at least a few families looking for a little Christmas cheer.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film, the studio’s first nomination in the category since Winnie The Pooh And Tigger Too in 1974 and Mickey’s first since Mickey And The Seal all the way back in 1948. It lost to Jimmy Picker’s Sundae In New York featuring a Claymation Ed Koch. Picker’s film is very much a product of its time that felt dated almost immediately. But Mickey’s Christmas Carol has become a holiday perennial, airing annually on television and a cornerstone of Disney+’s seasonal streaming section.
Disney animation was very much on life support in the early 1980s and their stable of classic characters had either been abandoned or reduced to corporate mascots. Mickey’s Christmas Carol was a welcome return to form for both the studio and Mickey himself. It remains a lovely little holiday gift, a sweet and gentle rendition of a timeless classic.
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